Notes from the field

When new to (serious) kiting in the end of nineties I got some (25min?) initial advice there (in the LKS in Stockholm at the time), but found out that the Prism kites then offered was slightly to expensive for me then (I then chose to honor kite selling shops on the Swedish west coast selling HQ kites instead). Life got periods when getting the bacon on the table is the main focus and others when the focus can be more of not to miss out on what life has to offer*. When I started over again with kiting I bought three old kite models (kites that I had drooled over in the past but now could get to a very good price) and one new (4D). After the Stockholm city situated shop closed I've only bought smaller stuff like a Prism tube-tail, The advanced way to fly DVD, higher quality yo-yo for me and as gifts... But would I ever look for a Zephyr (which seem to be highly rated by members in KL) I know where I would go. B.t.w. today I saw that they still offer an Alien according to their web site.

I remember when I went there to by a Prophecy at close to 50% discount. He went to the shelf where the kites were kind of inserted, searched and the retracted the hand empty. He said:
  "Ohh.. it looks like we have sold the last sample unfortunately"
He then paused and then looked at me while appearing to picture something for himself and said with a lowered voice:
  "But it is a fantastic kite"
To say that I was disappointed is an understatement . Don't misunderstand me, the shop owner is a very helpful and patient person. However, whenever there is a video with a Prophecy in it, I still prefer to peer hard to make the vision blurry so that I can pretend that instead that there is an Illusion being shown. That was also the kite I ended up buying that day. A few months later, when asked, he never hesitated selling me the three last remaining spare (brittle and discontinued) LLEs (even though the Illusion was the shop owners own favorite)  - he just said:
  "Yes, you may."

* What things cost is kind of funny. Today I was at the dentist's because one of my teeth is ruined and that needed a crown/implant (the previous "budget" fix was broken). After 20min (of total 1:45 exhausting hours) they said ohh... we need a pillar as well that is 1500SEK (~150USD) extra. Discussing the matter is hard with lots of stuff in your mouth. This extra sum would correspond to an Echo kite and the total sum, I fear, might correspond to almost two Fazer XXLs (has anyone done this sort of multi kiting?)! There have been occasions when I have had way more fun for my money than I've had today. Also they said until the next visit in three weeks, only eat soft food like porridge and soup. Could this be a way to financially compensate this since porridge is cheap food?

Thumbs up for your LKS support SHBKF!